With Australian companies feeling more confident in their growth prospects for 2014, the percentage of businesses planning to increase headcount is also growing, a survey shows. [ + ]

Australian beverage company Bickford's has selected cloud-based and mobile CRM systems from StayinFront as part of an overhaul of its current systems. [ + ]

ACMA has issued a formal warning to Optus after an investigation found the telco inaccurately billed customers almost $9 million. [ + ]

Google has published its latest figures on authorities' legal requests for user data, including details from Australia, but the report still has no statistics on the type of user data shared. [ + ]

A survey shows Australian consumers and businesses who have lost data were in fact using a backup system at the time of their data loss. [ + ]

Apple's iOS is the most commonly used mobile OS in enterprises in mature markets, according to analyst firm Gartner. IT managers have a series of decisions to make about managing iOS devices, in order to minimise the risk of data leakage. [ + ]

Pure Hacking has urged Australian individuals and businesses still using Windows XP to upgrade now, before Microsoft pulls the support plug on the OS next month. [ + ]

The Communications Alliance will absorb the core responsibilities of the Internet Industry Association (IIA), after the IIA's board made the decision to shut down the organisation. [ + ]

Amazon Web Services will select three local governments and four application developers to share in a prize pool of US$250,000 worth of credits for projects that use the AWS cloud to benefit citizens. [ + ]

Australian companies are now more likely to hire ICT contractors than permanent ICT staff, with demand for ICT contractors stronger than in any other profession, a survey suggests. [ + ]

One analyst feels that Symantec's decision to fire CEO Steve Bennett - the face of the company's turnaround efforts - is a "major black eye". [ + ]

The Victorian Government has teamed up with Nextgen for a project aimed at improving infrastructure diversity in south-west Victoria to avoid a repeat of the Warrnambool outage of 2012. [ + ]

As the date looms for the first copper phone lines to be supplanted by the NBN, NBN Co has set up a register to help users of medical alarms ensure these services remain operational. [ + ]

Researchers from the University of Sydney are working on a mobile app designed to allow public transport users to rate their experiences and for operators to respond in real time. [ + ]

Michael Malone last week resigned as CEO and board director of ISP iiNet, in order to focus on other projects. [ + ]